GadgetReview

Now here’s an interesting idea for you, folks–you’ve heard of the universal remote before, but now it’s gone to a whole new level with the BluLink remote, a Bluetooth universal remote.

The BluLink can control up to six devices, including the Playstation 3, and even offers onboard memory so that no special PS3 settings are lost, even if you take out the two AA batteries that run it.

So for now, it’ll handle your PS3 remote switching needs, along with tackling the rest of your home theater control needs, without caring a whit what all’s in the way.  I say “for now”, of course, because there’s one fatal flaw to the BluLink remote…it only has the Bluetooth profile to control the PS3.

This means, of course, when the rest of the Bluetooth-ready TVs and DVD players and Blu-ray players and DVRs and whatnot come out, your new $49.95 BluLink will still be controlling the PS3…and only the PS3.

But for now, you can’t do much better.

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Now available in the United States is the Viliv X70EX, a mobile internet device weighing in at just under one and a half pounds with a seven inch touch screen.

The basic model starts in with an Atom Z515 CPU and a hundred and sixty gig hard drive, while the upgraded model has an Atom z520 processor and a three hundred twenty gig hard drive.  A final version boosts the upgraded model to include a gig of DDR2 ram, wireless internet and Bluetooth, plus a web camera, a mike and speakers.

The idea of a really tiny netbook is actually kind of interesting, though I’m not really sure any of these will ever truly replace the laptop.  Especially when you consider the price–the entry level model retails for six hundred bucks whilst the next two are seven hundred thirty and eight hundred eighty respectively.  That’s pretty salty for a tiny little webcrawler.

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The current undisputed king of the geeky gadget may well have just been found, folks–brace yourself for the iPhone Arider.

It’s still in the prototype stage, but one day we’ll all be able to enjoy the iPhone Arider.  And what does it do, you wonder?  Simple–it’s a portable navigation system that feeds to a display in a pair of glasses.  It follows your head motion, so if you want to pan the map to the right, you just look right.  Pan any other direction and you just look that direction.  Even better, it also can be used as a Bluetooth headset, PLUS it will handle Twitter updates.

I couldn’t be happier about this one, folks–I’m eagerly awaiting the day I can buy Spider Jerusalem-style picture taking sunglasses, and every move like this brings me one step closer to my triangle-and-circle.

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Brando has made a “why didn’t I think of that” gadget in the form of their solar powered bluetooth headset.  Providing infinite standby time under direct sunlight, you can also charge it via USB through your computer or AC wall plug.  You can even buy two of them and use them simultaneously thanks to their stereo matching capabilities.  Why would you want to do that I wonder?  It would definitely look weird, but you’d at least have sides of your head displaying a bluetooth headset so you don’t look like you’re talking to yourself.  On sale now for $67 a piece.

[via Ubergizmo]

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So here’s a fun governmental conundrum for you, gentle reader–if you’re out driving, and you get a sudden message on your Twitter feed about road conditions issued by the state on whose roads you’re driving, would you consider this illegal?

The irony is, yes, it is.  Using text messages while driving, even those issued by the state about road conditions, is illegal in several states.  The no texting while driving idea sounds fair enough, until you consider that the states in question are texting drivers about road conditions.

Frank Hornstein, who co-wrote Minnesota’s no texting while driving law, said this, which effectively shattered the state’s Irony Meter:

“You shouldn’t be fiddling around with any kind of electronic gadget in your car while driving.”

And in Minnesota, of course, the state text messages people to describe road conditions.  So basically, use a state service while driving, go to jail.

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World War 2 buffs and sustainable survivalists rejoice as there’s a new bag in town.  Actually it’s rather old.  Using a German backpack and a satchel from the last World War over 50 years ago, Vancouver BC company KILLA claims that the durable fabric will last you another 50 years and hopefully through the next World War.

Made in an absolute limited quality (only 20 units of both bags produced each year), these bags have been retrofitted with solar panels for storing the sun’s energy for use later.  Each bag also contains iPod controls that KILLA partnered with QIO Systems to use their Paniq devices to control any iPod or Bluetooth enabled module.  Sounds very cool indeed.

No info on pricing at this time. …Continue reading: Retrofitted Solar Power And iPod Controlling WW2 Bags

Normally you think of a mouse as precious little more than a device used to point at things, but now, Philips is looking to expand the humble mouse’s role with the Bluetooth Notebook Mouse.

Granted, the name isn’t exactly inspiriting but there’s loads of time to fix that.  Anyway, the big question is how does it work.  In this case, by the sounds of it, pretty well.  It can alternate between being a normal corded mouse and a cordless mouse, with the cord also serving as a USB recharge cable for the cordlessness. Even better, it can become a presentation controller with its built-in 360-degree touch control.  Thus, it’s extremely versatile and almost two mouses in one.

Or is it mice?  Anyway–it’s good to see an invention work, for a change.

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You’ve got to hand it to Elijah Wood for just plain old dramatic tension, folks–the man’s convinced that, someday, our gadgets will destroy humanity.

Here’s what he had to say about the Blackberry Uprising:

‘It’s madness. If it gets out of control and if it’s used for the wrong reasons or if it takes us away from our own humanity, then maybe that will be our downfall.”

Okay, so you’d think that a guy who genuinely believed this might well choose to set an example for the rest of us and toss out his own hardware first, right?  Well, sadly, you’d be very muchly wrong.  The hobbit’s got a cell phone and a Blackberry, which he keeps on him at all times.  He even cites his iPod as the reason he got into DJing.  Though give him credit, he does keep them out of sight and out of use during restaurant meals and at movie theatres.

So maybe it’s not quite as dire as he predicted.  But I guess if your iPod ever announces it wants to take over the world, maybe you’d better take it seriously…

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Still can’t decide on the right pair of Bluetoth headphones?  Stop pondering, because Sony is about to introduce the DRC-BT30P, a Bluetooth dongle that let’s you use any pair of headphones with your Bluetooth compatible devices.  It includes volume and track controls and even a call answer button and mic.

There’s no word on a launch date or price, but this thing stinks of ‘Japan only’.

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So it’s making the rounds on the web that, should you lose your Kindle or your iPhone or your Sirius receiver, you can pretty much forget about getting any help from the company.  Well, now you can take matters into your own hands and mete out cyber-vigilante justice to anyone who sneaks off with your stuff.

It’s the TenBu Technologies’ nio (that’s not a typo–it’s all lower case) and it serves as a kind of wireless hub for all your various devices.  The nio connects to the Bluetooth tag in your devices, and sets a certain “zone” around itself.  Say, for example, fifty feet.  If your gadget ever leaves that fifty foot zone, an alarm on the nio goes off and you know your device is either rapidly moving away or is on the other side of the building where you left it.

If the nio can prevent people from losing their devices in the first place, then it really doesn’t matter what Amazon, Sirius and Apple do.  Even better if it can stop some thieves in the act.

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